SCIENCE BRIEFING

Ozone hole over Antarctica grows

The ozone hole over Antarctica, caused by depletion of stratospheric ozone by man-made gases, was the fifth biggest on record, reaching a maximum area of 10.5 million square miles in September, NASA said.

That's considered "moderately large," NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman said in a statement.

NASA has tracked the size of the hole for 30 years. Last year, it was 9.7 million square miles, about the size of North America.